It will arrive to Jupiter in July 2016 and then will start unlocking the secrets of the giant planet's atmosphere,
mapping Jupiter's magnetic and gravity fields and study Jupiter's magnetosphere near the planet's poles, especially the auroras.

"Juno's odometer just clicked over to 9.464 astronomical units," said Juno Principal Investigator Scott Bolton,
of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.

Once Juno enters into its orbit, infrared and microwave instruments will begin to measure
the thermal radiation emanating from deep within Jupiter's dense atmosphere. These observations will
complement previous studies of the planet's composition by assessing the abundance and distribution of water, and
therefore oxygen. While filling missing pieces of the puzzle of Jupiter's composition, this data also
provides insight into the planet's origins.

"The team is looking forward, preparing for the day we enter
orbit around the most massive planet in our solar system."

For those astronomical-unitly challenged, an astronomical unit (AU) is a unit of measure used by space engineers
and scientists when discussing the massive distances involved in the exploration of our solar system - and beyond.

An AU is based on the distance between Earth and the sun and is 92,955,807.273 miles (149,597,870.7 kilometers) long.

The 9.464 astronomical units Juno has already traveled (or still has left to go) is equivalent to 879,733,760 miles
(or 1,415,794,248 kilometers).

Juno was 34.46 million miles (55.46 million kilometers) from Earth when the milestone
was reached.

The next milestone in the nearly five-year journey to Jupiter will occur this October, when the spacecraft
flies past Earth in search of a little extra speed.

A computer-generated image depicts NASA's Juno spacecraft, which reached the halfway point on its mission to Jupiter on August 12, 2013.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Juno was launched on Aug. 5, 2011. Once in orbit around Jupiter, the spacecraft will circle the planet 33 times, from pole to pole, and use its collection of eight science instruments to probe beneath the gas giant's obscuring cloud cover. Juno's science team will learn about Jupiter's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere, and look for a potential solid planetary core.

Juno's name comes from Greek and Roman mythology. The god Jupiter drew a veil of clouds around himself to hide his mischief, and his wife, the goddess Juno, was able to peer through the clouds and reveal Jupiter's true nature.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator,
Scott Bolton, of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. The Juno mission is part of the New Frontiers
Program managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

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